I Told You
by twofacedmarco
Summary: An alternate universe where the 3 walls don't exist, where titans are extinct and where high school is a roller coaster. Marco, a shy young freshman, crosses paths with a punk named Jean, and things take a turn for better or worse?
1. Chapter 1

Marco stepped into the classroom, a small light blue backpack hanging off his left shoulder as he looked around in awe. This being his first day of high school, the 15 year old was eager to make new friends and see what the mature world has to offer. The soft whirring of the "old fashioned" projector filled the classroom as Marco noticed the machine sitting centre of the room. He took a seat near the far window and watched shyly as more students poured in. "Welcome to elementary school!" One guy from a large group of students said aloud as he caught sight of the projector, receiving several chuckles from everyone else. Marco cracked a smile and set his bag down on the floor, under the wooden desk as he waited for someone to take a seat next to him.

After the desks had filled and chatter had risen to a dull roar, Marco sighed to himself, seeing two more people—hopefully the last—stride into the room. Both were male, the one having ever-so-slightly tanned skin and short, shaggy black hair. The other, quite shorter than the first, had far paler skin and this strange style of both sides of his head nearly shaved, revealing black undertones, but on the top of his head and trailing to the back of his neck, was a scruffy sandy coloured patch of hair. It reminded Marco of a sleeping ferret, the bangs not quite reaching his eyes. Their outfits were very similar, consisting of a black leather jacket, jeans, and a dark graphic t-shirt underneath. The piercing in the taller ones nose made the pair seem a lot more intimidating than they probably were.

The ferret-head caught Marco's eye and raised an eyebrow, causing Marco to immediately look away and blush from embarrassment. He was most likely silently judging him because of the wimpy outfit he wore. A loose-fitting grey pullover sweater and skinny floral jeans, complete with slicked back dark hair and red converse. Marco stayed staring at his hands rested in his lap until he saw the two boys from the corner of his eye take the two seats next to him. The taller one right beside Marco, muttering something to the other. The shy male exhaled heavily and looked over at the, surprisingly slightly taller teenager. He forced a smile and spoke up, "Hi!" The boy glanced over at Marco and smiled weakly, "Hey." His voice sounded much higher than Marco anticipated. "I'm Marco," he tried to engage in conversation, "What's your name?" The dark haired boy blinked in seeming-to-be surprise. "Bertholdt." Marco smiled slightly wider and gestured to the other boy sitting next to Bertholdt, "And your friend?" Bertholdt opened his mouth to respond, but the other boy did so instead, "I'm Jean."


	2. Chapter 2

Marco grinned crookedly at Jean, glancing between him and Bertholdt. Already, he was starting to feel something strong for Jean. He just wasn't sure if it was positive or negative yet. Bertholdt elbowed Jean gently, shooting him a look that Marco could not see. Just then, the bell rang throughout the school, notifying students and faculty of the beginning of class.

Since it was the first day, most teachers wouldn't give the students any real work and simply focus on learning everybody's names. Well, the luck of the draw was that Marco's first block class got the most juvenile teacher in school: Mrs. Parker. Honestly, she would talk to a large group of 15 year-olds like they were in the second grade. So, of course, she played one of those junior high "games" of going around the class and forcing each student to repeat their name, age, previous school, and an interesting fact about themselves. Mrs. Parker began at Marco's end of the room, beginning with him.

"Hi there!" She beamed brightly at him with her toothy grin, "Why don't you start us off?"

The educator crossed her legs as she took a seat at the front of the room, all eyes fixed on Marco.

"Uh..." The freckled boy began, staring wide-eyed back at the class. "I'm Marco Bodt." He swallowed hard, feeling his face go a bright red. "I-I'm 15 and my last school was Nichols Middle." He glanced sheepishly at Bertholdt who gave him an expecting stare. "And I-I am a pieces."

The class' gaze shifted instantly to Bertholdt, mindlessly waiting for similar answers from him. The tall boy sighed lightly.

"Bertholdt Hoover. I'm 15, went to Barkell Middle, and I'm pretty tall."

He smirks, winking at Marco briefly as he too smiled. Mrs. Parker rolled her eyes,

"Yes, fine. Next?"

She looked to Jean, who was staring at the ceiling.

"I'm Jean Kirschtein. 15. Barkell Middle. And," he looked to Marco swiftly, "I've got a thing for freckles."

Marco's eyes bulged from his head at Jean, not noticing several snickers from the class and a glare from Bert to Jean.

As the other students said their names, ages, schools, and more-so boring than interesting facts, Marco couldn't seem to break his gaze from Jean. All the other classmates mattered not to Marco, they just sounded like muffled noise over his rushing thoughts. Freckles. He specifically said freckles, and looked _directly_ at Marco. In the eyes. Was he hinting at something? Or could it have been a joke? Marco knew that he was putting too much hard thought into this, just like a crushing 12 year-old girl.

Finally, the bell rang yet again through the halls, indicating the end of block 1. The teacher instructed the students to pack up and head to their second block class. Marco heaved his binder-filled backpack back onto his shoulders, standing from his desk, striding across the room. Before he left, he glanced over his shoulder at Bertholdt and Jean to see Bertholdt talking to some blonde, intimidating girl, while Jean stared at Marco all too knowingly. Marco blushed lightly and headed out the door, into the crowded hallway.


	3. Chapter 3

As Marco arrived at his second block class, social studies, he entered to find the room near full already. He found an empty seat next to an almost bald guy with wide eyes and a friendly face. Putting his backpack down, he sat and shot a grin at the boy.

"Hi," Marco chirped happily, earning the others green-eyed gaze.

"Sup. I'm Connie." The teen, Connie, smirks lightly at Marco.

"Marco." The freckled boy says in return, looking around the flag and poster filled classroom.

One particular student Marco recognises from his previous class; it's Jean, looking very irritated while sitting next to a beefy blonde guy with short wiry hair. He inhales sharply, turning back to face the board, staring wide-eyed at his desk.

After a short moment, the Social teacher, a small pudgy red-haired man, slaps the whiteboard with a metre stick, instantly grabbing everyone's attention.

"Alright!" He shouts surprisingly loud for a man of his size, "I am Mr. Johnston! Your year-long Social Studies teacher! And what a damn long year it's going to be." His nostrils flare, staring in disgust at the students.

Connie leaned over and muttered to me, "Someone's on their period."

Unfortunately, Mr. Johnston heard Connie's remark and glared harshly in our direction. He stiffly strode to our desks and smacked his hand down on Connie's table, right in front of his face.

"Name." The teacher demanded, his eyes burning ferociously into Connie's.

"Connie Springer." Even though he stared up at the man, Connie still leaned back in his chair, looking as chill and casual as ever. Following his name, he grinned widely receiving many wide-eyed stares of shock from the other students.

Mr. Johnston snarled, backing away from Connie's table. "Well," his vice didn't sound as loud, but equally as intimidating, "Thanks to Mr. Springer, our first order of business as a class will be to arrange a seating plan." He glanced back at Connie, who shrugged weakly, not bothered by the statement.

A few groans came from the students, mostly the hipster girls sitting with other clones of themselves or incredibly bulky guys in football jerseys.

Marco, on one hand, enjoyed seating plans, seeing them as an excuse to sit in on particular spot for the entire year and never having to worry about sitting beside someone who didn't want him there.

Mr. Johnston drew up a rough sketch on the board of the classroom layout, followed by reaching for his attendance list and jotting names in each box that represents a desk.

Marco searched for his name and spotted it, searching the room for his proper spot. Right at the back row, towards the centre of the room. And, since each desk were arranged in pairs, he glanced at the name of whoever would be sitting next to him. The name read: Reiner.

Marco shrugged and picked up his bag just as everyone else began to move their new seats. The freckled boy awaited for this "Reiner" guy to sit with him, but no one came. Maybe he was absent? On the first day? No, not likely. Marco furrowed his brows and looked back at the board, finding his name. But now, beside it read not Reiner's, but Jean's name. His jaw nearly dropped as Jean slumped down in the empty seat beside Marco, catching the punks flashy, sly grin, "Hey freckles."


	4. Chapter 4

Marco swallowed hard, staring wide-eyed at Jean. He was nervous and just short of terrified, yet still managed to smile kindly at him.

"Hi!" Marco chirped way to perkily.

He cleared his throat and glanced away a moment before returning Jean's gaze.

"You're Jean, right?"

The freckled boy tones down his pep, trying to act just like his regular self. But, for some unknown reason, he felt butterflies in his stomach whenever he set eyes on the punk-looking student.

Jean nods, smirking ever so slightly as Marco spoke.

"How're you liking the first day so far?"

Jean asks, leaning on his propped up hand with his chin, seeming to be ignoring the rest of the class.

Marco shrugs weakly, running a hand through his soft brown middle-parted hair.

"It's ok, I guess." He responded convincingly, really thinking that high school would be the death of him. Marco's junior high school, Nichols Middle, didn't prepare its students in the slightest for the terrors and extensive homework of high school.

To his surprise, Jean made this weird noise that was like the cross of a scoff and a chuckle. Marco raised an eyebrow at the boy, leaning back slightly in his shitty short chair.

Jean grinned widely at Marco,

"C'mon, you don't _really _think this is going to be a good three years, do you?"

Marco frowned, barely sticking his lip out as he narrowed his eyes ever so slightly at Jean.

"Someone's a pessimist." He responded, exhaling gently.

Jean shrugged,

"And you seem like an optimist. So we're even."

This caused Marco to release his mildly upset look and smile genuinely at Jean, letting out a light chuckle. Although they'd only known each other for almost 2 hours, Marco was already beginning to take a liking to this 'Jean' character.

"Y'know," Marco began, "You look really intimidating at first glance, but you're actually a nice guy." He smiled softly, directly looking in Jean's hazel eyes.

Jean's jaw tensed, turning his head away from Marco, now staring down at his clasped hands on his lap.

Marco furrowed his brows, trying to read Jean's expression; trying to figure out why he grew so tense all of a sudden. Just as he was about to ask him what's wrong, Jean responded with:

"You don't know me very well then,"


End file.
